Stop the insanity of reclining airplane seats

What are the most annoying habits on airplanes? A series of seat recline skirmishes has passengers talking about the aggravations of air travel. Click through the gallery of 20 top irritants.

You folded your suit coat nicely and placed your hat in the allotted overhead space. Too bad Bin Hog just mangled it all while shoving his suitcase, stroller and shopping bags into a space meant for one personal item.

Airplane movies: the opiate of the flying masses. Except when your hyperactive neighbor takes 30 minutes to decide between "Grown Ups 2" or something a little less cerebral. Such behavior earns "passengers who take too long to pick a movie" the number 19 spot on our "most annoying" list.

Coming in at spot 18 -- compulsive leg-shaking. The fidgety leg-shaker isn't all that common, but still annoying when encountered at altitude.

Annoying behavior number 17? Boarding ahead of group number. Most airlines have a system for getting hundreds of passengers aboard in the least amount of time. That's why we schlep on as part of Group A or B or C. Just because you drew the short straw on this one doesn't give you the right to pretend to be dyslexic.

What's more annoying than people rushing to board the plane? Babies crying. Are we really blaming babies for doing what babies do naturally? Sure, as long as they're your kids, and not ours.

"I'd learn some bladder control if I was in the window seat," runs the unspoken complaint. Number 15 on our list -- those who get huffy when you leave your seat.

"Hey, we just landed. ... can you hear me? ... we just landed ... I'm on the runway ... can you hear me now? ... We just landed ... " Annoying behavior number 14: Those who can't bear to wait to deplane before yacking on their cell phones.

We get it -- airlines have cut back on food service, forcing us all to bring our own snacks and meals onboard. But did you really have to clean out the back of your refrigerator? Bringing aboard stinky food isn't just annoying, it's gross too.

Hey, we're trying to read here. Number 12 on the rude behavior list: people who don't know how to use their inside voices on planes.

Coming in at number 11 -- elbow wars. Do you often find yourself elbowing someone else's arm off what should be a shared space? That's armrest hegemony. And it's annoying.

Praise God, the middle seat is empty! Til the guy next to you employs annoying behavior number 10 and lays claim to the no man's land of the middle seat with a book, coat or inflatable neck support. Or long appendage.

Thanks for sharing your globules of diseased saliva. This lonely gentleman may have the only sensible approach to dealing with those who practice annoying behavior number nine -- germ sharing.

Bleep, bloop, blorp. Funny how some of the most irritating things on the planet can be called "games." Even more irritating are people who play them, on a plane, with the sound turned on.

"Sir, is that a ... carry-on?" Annoying behavior number seven: Wielding huge suitcases as carry-ons.

Here we've regressed to the time before the invention of the queue. Don't you just hate people who rush from the back of the plane in an attempt to disembark first?

Another annoying behavior that also falls into the gross category -- cutting fingernails inflight. Toenails are also trimmed at 30,000 feet, but that would have been a really offensive picture.

"Feet nudism" is a common complaint, earning it the number 4 spot on our list. Appalling side note: people who actually go to the bathroom on the airplane in their bare feet.

We've all encountered the toilet hogger. What are they doing in there, you wonder as you hover cross-legged by the door. Certainly not being considerate of other people.

Annoying travel behavior number two: recliners. Aviation engineers, listen up: No one likes the recline button! Time to reinvent the plane seat.

She says the way to save us from our out-of-control uncivil behavior? Ban reclining seats

Let people play for reclining seats. But they can't grouse when seat in front reclines, she says

Cardona: Survey says most travelers would support a ban. If you wouldn't? Fly first class

Editor's note: Maria Cardona is a political commentator for CNN, a Democratic strategist and principal at the Dewey Square Group. She is a former senior adviser to Hillary Clinton and was communications director for the Democratic National Committee. She also is a former communications director of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.

(CNN) -- We have now witnessed the third instance in only nine days of a flight being diverted from its original destination because someone leaned her seat back and someone objected.

Has it come to this? Do we really need air marshals on flights now to intervene between people in front who (in this most recent case) want to get comfy and knit, and people behind who want to put their heads down on a tray table to nap?

Maria Cardona

While both passengers in each of the three cases had reasonable arguments on their side -- recliners felt they had every right to recline, and the people behind them felt their personal space was being violated -- does their inability to work it out not seem like just another example of a society where civility is declining?

There is a simple solution to save us from our worst selves: Get rid of reclining seats.

If we are all compelled to sit upright for a flight's duration, the issue of invading already infinitesimal personal space simply goes away.

What about your comfort you might ask? After all, in the breathless drive to obtain cheaper and cheaper fares, passengers are willing to give up much for a cheap flight. But must they endure even more?

Consider: The seats on budget conscious airliners like Spirit and Allegiant don't recline, and these airlines don't suffer disruptions from angry passengers about to brawl. And their bottom lines aren't exactly suffering.

Too drastic? OK, there can be a middle ground, like asking fliers to pay more for reclining seats, which can be the same ones that have more legroom. Passengers already pay more for that, so it would work out quite nicely. One caveat: Passengers in these seats will have to know that the seats in front of them may recline into their capacious legroom space.

There will be an uproar, you say, from passengers if airliners ban reclining seats? Not likely. A recent survey of 1,000 air travelers by travel search engine Skyscanner showed a whopping 91% would support banning reclining seats on short-distance flights. Some 43% percent even supported a reclining seat ban on long-haul flights.

Airlines phasing out seat-back screens

And flight crews tired of breaking up fights would enthusiastically embrace such bans.

Let's save civility, cut down on diverted flights to places no one paid for to be, and simply increase our sanity. And if reclining comfort is still something you do not want to compromise on -- even if you are willing to impose on the comfort of your fellow passengers -- there is another solution for you: fly first class.